WINNING THE BATTLE, LOSING THE WAR

The obstructionist Save Our Heritage Organisation may have won its court case to block the plan to remove traffic and parking from the heart of Balboa Park. But for San Diego, the heavy price of that victory will be paid for many years to come.

The fallout of the court decision finalized on Monday led philanthropist Irwin Jacobs to withdraw from the project Tuesday. Without the $30 million he had pledged toward the $45 million project, it is effectively dead. Which in turn means that the long-held dream of a permanent pedestrian-friendly, traffic- and parking-free esplanade from the San Diego Museum of Art to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion will have to be drastically scaled back if anything is to be done by 2015 and the centennial celebration of the Panama-California Exposition in the park.

The punch in the gut for Balboa Park may also be a huge blow to philanthropy for big public projects in San Diego. The city two years ago created the Balboa Park Conservancy to raise private donations to whittle away at the $240 million backlog in infrastructure repairs for the park. Looking at what Jacobs went through over the past three years – the $8 million he had already spent, the personal attacks directed publicly at him – what other big donors will step forward now for Balboa Park or any other big public projects? City Council President Todd Gloria acknowledged Tuesday that it could have a “chilling effect” on donors.